UK’s ‘absurd’ visa policies have hurt student recruitment from India

Britain’s attempts to restrain immigration has caused serious problems for student recruitment in countries such as India, and led to a “substantial” reduction in the number of applicants from the subcontinent, the business secretary said on Wednesday.

Vince Cable, speaking at an international conference of university leaders, said there had been “quite vigorous criticism of the UK” in the south Asian country, which he said was based on an incorrect reading of reports in the British press, treating what was written in the media “as if it was objective reality”.

Continuing, the business secretary said: “In some of the Indian provincial newspapers the message has gone out that the British no longer want Indian students, which is wrong. But that’s the message that has gone out.”